By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Friday he would repair the National Mall reflecting pool after July 4, as the landmark remains under heightened security and surveillance amid ongoing controversy over its renovation and emerging maintenance problems.
The reflecting pool, located between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, was the subject of a roughly $14 million Trump-directed renovation that aimed to restore and recolor the basin ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, but has since drawn scrutiny after reports of algae growth, peeling surface material and visible deterioration just weeks after completion.
Trump has blamed dark-of-night saboteurs for the issues with the project. While no evidence has emerged to support Trump’s claim that a vandal cut a 350-foot (107-meter) gash in the pool, a National Park Service official said in a sworn court statement late on Wednesday that on June 9, U.S. Park Police examined apparent intentional damage to the pool.
(Reporting By Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Michelle Nichols and Sanjev Miglani)
